Published: March 21, 2008 06:20 pm            

48th Livestock Show begins next week

Next week the Henderson County Fairpark Complex will be full of animals — from dairy cattle to rabbits — for the 48th Annual Henderson County Livestock Show.

There are approximately 700 participants and 1,400 entries scheduled to be on hand throughout the week. Henderson County Livestock Show President Ken McGee said many participants enter more than one animal.

He said he expects more than 1,000 people to come and see the shows.

“I think it will come off without a hitch, like it always does,” McGee said, “and it will end with a great sale. I hope that everyone comes out to support the youth.”

The preparations will begin bright and early Monday morning at 8 a.m.

Participants and volunteers will remove all the horse pens from one of the stall barns, according to McGee. They will set up pens for the hogs, goats and rabbits and the show rings. He said the effort takes up to four people to carry a pen because it is in one piece. Livestock will be tied up to racks.

Monday evening, the Queen and Princess of the show will be announced. Winners are selected based on their “poise, beauty, personality, western attire and horsemanship.” The princess will be in junior high or younger and the queen will be in high school, according to McGee. The two winners will receive a buckle and tiara.

On Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. the Youth Horse Show and Yearling Horse Show will begin. That evening at 5 p.m., the Breeding Swine Show will begin.

At 10 a.m. on Wednesday, breeding rabbits will be shown. Weigh-in for the Market Swine will begin at 11 a.m. and end at 1 p.m. Shop projects will be judged at 4 p.m. In the evening, weigh-ins for market lambs, market goats and steers will begin at 6 p.m. An hour and half later, the Dairy Cattle Show will begin.

The Breeding Goat Show will start on Thursday at 9 a.m. and the Youth Project Show will begin an hour later. At 10:30 a.m. the Market Fryer Show starts up.

Commercial Heifers will be judged at noon and at 3 p.m. the Market Swine Showmanship will begin. The Youth Project Show Exhibit ends for the day at 7 p.m.

The Market Lamb Show starts on Friday morning at 9 a.m. and immediately following the breeding ewe show begins. The Youth Project Show re-opens at this time. The exhibit will close at 5 p.m. The winning entries will be auctioned off at 6 p.m. Youth projects must be removed from the grounds by 8 p.m.

The Broiler Show opens at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. marks the beginning of the Breeding Beef Show.

The Herdsman Awards will be announced at 4 p.m. The announcement of scholarship winners and the Sonny Pickens Award will be given at 7 p.m.

On Saturday morning the Pee Wee Livestock Show will begin at 8:30 a.m. The Livestock Judging Contest will begin at 9 a.m.

Buyer’s Luncheon will be served at 11:30 a.m. in the Coliseum.

The awards will be presented at 12:30 p.m. At 1 p.m. the auction will begin.

Placing entries in the livestock shows will be photographed.

This year the grand and reserve champions will be awarded belt buckles.

“They have a chance to take the award with them and show it off,” McGee said. He said that they have approximately 84 buckles, each costing $110.

Ribbons, scholarships and cash prizes will also be awarded.

        

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